APBoston Red Sox's Cody Ross celebrates his home run in the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox at Fenway Park in Boston, Thursday, July 19, 2012. Ross' three-run homer gave Boston a 3-1 win. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

BOSTON – A lucky bounce on a ground rule double turned into a Gatorade shower for Cody Ross.

The Red Sox right fielder erased a night of frustration for the Boston hitters and a stellar start by Chicago White Sox rookie left-hander Jose Quintana by drilling a walk-off home run over the Monster to deliver a 3-1 victory at Fenway Park Thursday night.

The Red Sox were held scoreless through the first eight innings and nearly fell behind 2-0 in the ninth inning when Chicago White Sox shortstop Gordon Beckham hit a ball to right field off reliever Alfredo Aceves that found its way into the seats and held Dayan Viciedo at third.

Aceves was able to recover and escape the inning unscathed, allowing Boston to mount its attack in the bottom of the inning. Dustin Pedroia reached first on a force out at second and Adrian Gonzalez singled off reliever Matt Thornton. Addison Reed then came in to face Ross, who ended the game on 1-1 fastball.

As Ross crossed the plate, Aceves was waiting for him with a bucket of Gatorade.

"I felt like a bunch of piranhas jumped on me and just started attacking me," Ross said. "I've never had that happen to me, but I assume that's what it'd feel like."

Ross also played the hero during Wednesday’s 10-1 victory over Chicago by drilling a pair of three-run homers, so the team felt confident when he came the plate.

Before Thursday’s game, Valentine said he couldn’t imagine Clay Buchholz pitching much better than he did in his last appearance.

Well, he can and he did. Buchholz worked eight innings, struck out six, walked one and scattered six hits.

Like in his last start against the Tampa Bay Rays where he struck out eight and allowed four runs in a Boston loss, Buchholz again had no problem fooling hitters, and credited his effectiveness to his team-seam fastball and curveball.

“I’ve been able to throw it to both sides of the plate, and then four-seamer seems to be there when the two is,” Buchholz said.

The only trouble he ran into came in the fourth inning when Adam Dunn led off with a walk and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly. That single blemish was almost enough to pop Boston’s hopes since Quintana was even better.

The rookie left-hander efficiently worked eight innings, struck out two and walked none.

The Red Sox best chance to score off him came in the seventh inning when they loaded the bases with one out, but Chicago shortstop Alexi Ramirez made a diving stop on a Will Middlebrooks ground ball to start a 6-4-3 double play.

"I'm excited. Why my guys have a great performance and leave it on the field. It's easy, bases loaded, one out, to say, 'Hey, that was our chance.' It wasn't our chance," Valentine said. "I saw some real determined people the entire night."